1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to carbon nanotube cooling devices, and more particularly to a moving carbon nanotube heat sink for integrated circuit chips and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
High performance microprocessor devices and similar devices utilizing large and very large scale integration of electronic components concentrate heat in a very small space which requires improved thermal cooling to maintain acceptable operating conditions. Over the years, a plethora of solutions addressing the heating problem have been implemented for a variety of applications. For example, thermally conductive pistons, micro bellows, water cooled cold plates, statically disposed heat sink fins, heat pipes, fans and the like have been used to attempt to solve the heating problem associated with these complex, highly integrated electronic circuitry. A conventional technique used to improve thermal performance is to add finned heat sinks to increase the available surface area. Making the fins longer provides increasing thermal performance up to a point. If the fins get too long, the tips of the fins approach ambient temperature and an increase in fin length no longer improves the thermal performance.
A ubiquitous heat transfer mechanism comprises a combination of conduction within the fin, which requires thicker or higher conductivity fins and convection from the fins to the air. Another conventional method to improve thermal performance is by improving air flow. The ultimate performance of an air cooled heat sink, however, is limited by available space, air flow and weight. It should be understood that the aforementioned heat transfer technologies have inefficiencies and cost tradeoffs that have yet to be overcome.
Thus, a moving carbon nanotube heat sink solving the aforementioned problems is desired.